GOP presidential candidate and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been catching a lot of criticism for his timidity in Monday night's debate. He refused to criticize frontrunner Mitt Romney over his Massachusetts health care plan despite doing so a day earlier.   

Comedian Stephen Colbert piled on Tuesday night. He played clips of several pundits ripping Pawlenty, calling him a "loser," a "beta dog" and a "boiled noodle." 

He then showed the key moment in the debate in which Pawlenty declined to attack Romney over what Pawlenty had previously described as "Obamneycare." 

"Forget Obamneycare," Colbert said. "I want to know how Minnesota's health plan keeps Tim Pawlenty alive without a spine?" 

Perhaps the most bizarre moments in the segment, however, were the comments of CNN contributer Cornell Belcher, who repeatedly invoked violent, bloody imagery, encouraging Pawlenty to rhetorically stab Romney.

Three times, Belcher said some variation of, "You gotta cut that person and make them bleed."  

"Someone needs to check this man's crawl space," Colbert joked.

Watch below:  

The Colbert Report
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